1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image identifying apparatus, order processing apparatus and image identifying method. More particularly, the invention is concerned with an image identifying apparatus that identifies a person as a subject in an image or image of a particular person as a subject, an order processing apparatus that processes a customer's order for an image identified by the image identifying apparatus, and an image identifying method applicable for the image identifying apparatus.
Also, the invention relates to a photographing system and method, and more particularly to a photographing system and method for assisting to take a picture by a photographing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the case of outing to a sightseeing resort, theme park or the like while carrying a photographing apparatus such as a camera in order to take a commemoration picture at the major spot, a tripod if carried together with a camera will pose a troublesomeness in setting thereof. For this reason, there is a tendency to decrease the pictures having a photographing person as a subject. Meanwhile, when taking a shot of a scene of enjoyment amid a particular attraction in the theme park for example, only the attendants as subjects can participate in the attraction while the person who is taking pictures is obliged to devote himself or herself to taking pictures without taking part in the attraction. In this manner, it is often a case to encounter a great deal of difficulty.
As one approach to eliminate the disadvantage, it is a conventional practice to automatically take shots of participants, for example, in a particular attraction of the theme park so that the participant is allowed to look the shot image at the exit of the particular attraction. Upon an order from the participant, a photoprint is made and delivered to the participant (customer). Meanwhile, it is also a practice that a cameraman, at a sightseeing resort or the like, takes a picture of an unspecified visitor. A photoprint of a shot image is presented at or around an exit of the resort spot, allowing the visitor (customer) as a subject to purchase it.
When taking a picture of a moving subject, such as an athlete in various kinds of sports and an animal, by a photographing apparatus of a digital still camera, digital video camera or the like, conventionally the photographing person himself/herself moves the photographing direction of the photographing apparatus in accordance with a movement of the subject. However, where a subject is located comparatively far or when taking a picture of a one athlete singled out of a multiplicity of athletes, it is often the case that a subject as a photographing target is lost sight of. Thus, there is difficulty in taking a picture of such a subject.
In order to eliminate such a problem, conventionally there are an art that a moving direction of a moving subject is detected to automatically move (automatically track) the photographing direction of the photographing apparatus toward the moving direction (JP-A No.5-328189, JP-A No.6-233307), an art that an objective subject is detected from a wide-angle photographing scene to carry out automatic tracking in order to take a moving picture in the later (JP-A No.6-268894 and JP-A No.9-322048) and so on.
In the above techniques, however, there is a need for the customer himself or herself to find an image the customer is taken as a subject from among a plurality of images presented. Consequently, there is a drawback that the burden on the customer increases in finding a desired image with increase in the number of presented images. This possibly leads to a customer's declined desire against purchase.
In the foregoing art of automatic tracking, however, it is not necessarily possible to detect a moving direction of a target subject or correctly detect it from a photographing scene. There is a problem that, when detection is incorrect, a subject cannot be taken a picture of at all.